


A Question of Armor

by Arytra



Series: Section 123 [5]
Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Background Willy/Mr. Macintosh, Bob is best at friendship, Fluff, Gen, Pre-OT6 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-17 23:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15472482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: Penelope brought to their attention that Travis (and whether she likes it, she) are not as well protected as the others and can get hurt.  The answer is simple:  Magic Armor!  The rest is less simple:  How to make it, how to test it, and how to get Penelope to actually wear it.





	A Question of Armor

**Author's Note:**

> It's important to read "Census of Eventual Family" to understand how they reached this decision. Then again, why wouldn't the others want to make armor for their friends? It's just a good plan.

After the fiasco where they'd involved Travis and the latter had dropped the bombshell about Penelope before leaving, Bob was left with the rest of the group waiting to hear what he had to say. Bob glanced off in Travis' direction, having the feeling that the other knew more than Bob did about the entire thing. It wasn't like he knew that much anyway considering how little Penelope spoke about herself and her job. He also knew that he'd better give the other five as much information as he had. “All I know,” he said. “Is that when we asked her how she got started, she just said that she had to deal with some werewolves. And that was it. She went back to eating like she didn't say anything and Mr. Hooper gave us the look to not question it.”

David looked over where Penelope and Travis had run off. “So, she can take on pretty much anything we throw at her,” he said decisively. “We're not even trying to hurt her.”

_“That still leaves Travis.”_ Linda reminded him.

“And I'm still not sure that Penelope is as safe as she thinks she is,” Bob said, putting his hands in his pockets. He hated it when she got like this and usually, it was a problem that Susan or Mr. Hooper got to deal with instead of him. Unfortunately, it didn't look that way today.

“She seems like she could handle it to me,” Luis said. “Besides, anything we do, she won't go for it.”

Maria looked between them, a sympathetic look toward Bob as she did so. “Luis has a point,” she mentioned. “We can try but it's Penelope.”

“Well we better let it go for now,” Olivia said. “Because she is in a bad mood.”

The others did agree on that, heading off back to their respective jobs and commitments. Bob felt Linda touch his arm. _“Will you be alright?”_ She asked.

_“I'll be fine._ He assured her. _“See you tonight?”_

_“See you tonight.”_ She agreed, giving him a quick kiss before heading off. Bob waited until she was gone before he sighed. He wasn't Susan or Gordon, no matter what Susan kept hoping. He wasn't the parent figure or even really a scolding older brother. This worked out extremely well with Maria because Maria listened to Gordon and Susan and he was often either involved in some way or able to lend an ear afterward. The others didn't really fall into a sibling category, oddly enough, and even if they had, they would have fallen into the same pattern as Maria. Travis followed Penelope around, always scurrying after, but he'd just admitted that he appreciated the attention they gave him and the younger man wanted desperately for Susan and Gordon to be proud of him. He never did anything that was worth a reprimand and Susan and Gordon wouldn't have had to open their mouths before he was apologizing if he did. This left just one person.

When he'd met Penelope, she'd been a lot younger than he'd expected from an agent. He knew she'd shown up a little before they had arrived because Mr. Macintosh and Willy had talked about her first visit. He knew that she'd fully admitted to facing down werewolves even if she didn't talk about it as much. And they knew that the man outside the force field wasn't her first partner because it had been discussed by all the Protectors after her second visit, but Penelope had never explained if she'd had any others than those whom they met. She, instead, tried to radiate a sense of control and strength. She brushed off Gordon and Susan's worries by reminding them she was able to take care of herself, something that all three of them knew from watching the interactions between them that Mr. Hooper found dubious.

When Susan and Gordon had decided to to become parental to the new group when they showed up, Penelope had pulled into being even more of the agent. She showed them that she cared, of course, in her own way, but she had tried to exude the persona that she was nearly indestructible and stubborn to match. He knew that the others didn't believe that first part, but they were more confident than Mr. Hooper, Susan, Gordon, and him that she was able to handle herself. Bob sighed, but nodded to himself. What was good for Travis was good for Penelope and he just needed to get her to accept it. Somehow.

***

Susan looked up over washing the dishes. Gordon was drying them beside her as Bob sat on the couch. He noticed how pleased she was over the idea. “Getting them protection just sounds like a good idea to me. I'm not sure where you got the idea from,” Susan said, giving him a look that screamed that while she didn't know exactly, she could guess that there had been shenanigans. “But I like it. I worry about those two running around without anything to protect them.”

Gordon looked over at Bob. “Do you have any ideas on how you're going to do it?”

“Not yet,” Bob answered. “We can discuss it more tomorrow, but there's a problem.”

“Penelope,” both of the adults said together and Bob looked at them in surprise. Susan rolled her eyes.

“We've known her as long as you have,” she reminded him. “And I can't imagine she'd appreciate the fuss.”

“It's worse,” he said. “She convinced the others she won't need it or at least it's not as big of a deal as it is for Travis.”

“Well,” Gordon said. “They probably know but Penelope is hard to handle sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Susan asked. “When was the last time she listened when we were explaining that she was going to get herself killed?”

“Never,” Gordon answered. Bob snickered and tried to cover it up when Susan shifted her glare from her husband to him. Gordon continued. “We'll keep trying because that's what older siblings do. She'll keep ignoring us because that's what stubborn little sisters do. And when it's important, we'll go to Mr. Hooper and get him to tell her to do it because that's also what siblings do.”

“They tattle on each other?” Bob asked in amusement. Gordon shrugged.

“They do when they're worried,” he answered. Bob looked at the floor and then at Gordon.

“I'll get her to do it,” he said trying to sound more confident that he felt. Gordon and Susan just looked at each other and he knew what they were thinking. “If I don't, then we can get Mr. Hooper to push it. But I can convince her.”

“But Bob,” Susan said gently and Bob took her hand and squeezed it.

“She's my sister too,” he said firmly, looking at them both. He hugged Susan as Gordon hugged them both. Susan looked at him.

“You'll convince her,” she said, sounding confident. “Just try to stay out of trouble while you do it.”

Gordon snorted. “I don't care if you have to take her hang-gliding to convince her,” he said, ignoring Susan's look. “Do whatever works.”

Bob just grinned at both of them. “Thanks,” he said. “We'll handle it.”

Other than his confidence in convincing Penelope, he was nearly certain that somehow, someway Susan and Gordon would be involved by the end of it. He ignored the feeling. After all, they could come up with a reasonable idea.

***

Linda was the one who had made the suggestion and, Bob had to say and not just because he loved her, that it was a good one. At least, it was a good idea in theory. The Amazing Mumford was, after all, a magician which meant that he'd be able to do the magic that they needed to create some magically charged armor ready for them. Maria was the first to gently bring up that Mumford wasn't always the best with his spells, but David argued that they didn't have a lot of choices and that Mumford's spells were never dangerous really. Luis had interjected that it might just take a few tries. Olivia had agreed with David that nothing had gone that dangerous before, but that they needed to test it before assuming it would be fine.

_“It was my idea. I'll test it.”_ Linda argued with Maria who was signing as fast as she could verbally argue.

“We don't know what could get screwed up!” She said. “We don't even know how to test it.”

“How hard is it to test?” Luis asked. “We'll just throw something soft at her.”

“If it's soft, how will we know it's working?” David said, folding his arms.

“If it's not soft, it could hurt Linda,” Olivia said, taking Maria's side. Bob just stood to the side and watched, having been told that maybe he shouldn't be allowed to volunteer for this because they were worried he'd hurt himself. He thought that was the entire point of trying the armor, but Olivia had dryly told him that he'd find away get hurt regardless.

“What are you six doing?” He glanced over to see Penelope standing next to him, Travis right behind her. She looked at him, completely unimpressed. “Well?”

“We're trying to get some armor for Travis,” he answered.

“For me?” Travis asked, looking completely excited and like he was finally realizing how much they cared about him.

“Yeah,” Bob continued, knowing that now was not the time to try to convince Penelope. In fact, her expression had shifted as well, becoming pleased with the idea since it was for Travis. “After we accidentally involved you last time, we realized that Penelope had a good point about you not being as protected as we are. Sometimes we forget that not everyone has the Street protecting them all the time. So, we're trying to figure out how to make you some magic armor.”

“Magic is good,” Penelope said. “You can make it lighter then. So, what are they arguing over?”

“Who is going to test it,” Bob answered. Penelope's eyes widened before she reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“HOLD IT!” She exclaimed, getting all of them to stop. She managed to sign it with just as much gusto as she'd said it. “Bob says you're working on armor for Travis. Great. He also said it was magic. Great. So let me explain to you where you went wrong: None of you can test it!”

_“Why not?”_ Linda asked.

“Because you all are connected with magic and Travis isn't,” she said. “It's, uh, like that egg thing that Gordon did in his class the other day to show osmosis. Vinegar makes the egg bigger because it adds water or whatever and sugar water made the egg shrink because there was too much sugar. But both of the liquids look also the same, right? Well, Travis is the sugar water and all of you are vinegar.”

“Why do we have to be the vinegar?” David argued.

“Because it's my metaphor and I said so!” She answered. Bob leaned over to her.

“You were paying attention to Gordon?” He asked in amusement.

“I made the mistake of asking why the egg was bigger, “ she muttered. Bob knew she was lying. If she hadn't looked interested, Gordon wouldn't have given her the full lecture and she certainly wouldn't have listened. She turned her attention back to the others. “And the point is, you could end up making things worse.”

_“Then how do we make sure it works?”_ Linda asked.

“I thought that would be obvious. Have Travis test it,” she said calmly.

“What?” Travis asked, turning to look at her in surprise.

“What?!” The others agreed.

“It's the only sensible answer,” she said. “He's going to wear it so he should test it. That way, you don't have to worry about the magic being off.”

“But...” David started and Penelope turned her look on him.

“I'm assuming that you'll be gentle with him. And that none of you would have done anything that would have gotten yourselves hurt if you were trying it,” she said.

“But we can handle it,” David answered. Penelope shrugged.

“Maybe. Or maybe if I hadn't stopped you, it would have canceled out Linda's protection and she would have been hurt worse. This just gives me the added bonus of not having to visit anyone in the hospital because I know you will go easier on Travis,” she answered. She brought herself up and gave off a rather good impression of Susan, even if that might not have been what she was going for. “Magic is not something that you just mess with. It has rules and consequences. I appreciate you guys trying to protect Travis, but be careful doing it. I have work to do.”

She patted Travis' arm. “It will probably be fine,” she told him in what she probably thought was a reassuring tone before heading off, leaving her somewhat partner behind. Bob quickly took over.

“We have this handled,” he said. Travis didn't look the least bit reassured about that either.

To Bob's surprise, it hadn't been a long conversation with Travis over using Mumford. Probably because they had left out the part where the Amazing Mumford tended to be, well, unpredictable. Mumford seemed perfectly happy to help as well as to answer most of Travis' questions about magic. They used an old jacket to start with, figuring that no one would mind if anything happened to it. And thus begun the testing.

***

“I, uh, thought we wanted the jacket to be invisible,” Travis said from somewhere.

“We did,” Luis said. “Look at the bright side: If they can't find you, they can't hurt you.”

“What happens when a car can't find me?” Travis asked.

“Next!” Maria said quickly.

***

“Remember when we were talking about watching King Kong in the theater?” David asked Maria, looking upward.

“Not the time,” Olivia snapped.

_“How can he be twelve feet tall and still look like he's smaller than me?”_ Linda asked.

“Still not the time,” Olivia continued.

“Mumford?” Bob asked. “Maybe the next time you try, aim for the jacket to have a strong protection?”

Travis looked at Bob. The former's body far larger and made of stone. “That would be nice.”

***

“Travis?”

“Yes, Big Bird?”

“Did you know you're up in the tree?”

“I, uh, may have noticed.”

“You can fly now?”

“Well, less fly and more float. The others are getting it fixed. Would you mind not telling Penelope or Susan or Gordon or Mr. Hooper? Please?” Travis asked.

“Okay. Can I tell Oscar?”

“Umm... sure,” Travis said as Big Bird hurried off. He looked at Bob. “I tried.”

Bob gave him a sympathetic look back. “Hopefully he'll tell them one at a time. Are you sure you're not going to fall out of the tree?”

“I'm sure,” Travis answered. 

“ROBERT!” Susan's voice rang out. Bob sighed as Travis kind of shrugged.

“We tried,” both said together.

***

After the floating incident which resulted in a large amount of lectures, several punishments, and Mac and Willy having handled Penelope before she could find out from one of the others, the decision was made that they would just buy the armor from a magic store. Bob would have felt more sheepish for not taking that into consideration, but it had been Linda's idea and none of the other five had considered a store either.

“If you knew they were testing it, why didn't you stop them?” Susan asked Penelope who glared back.

“Because I figured that you knew. Mr. Hooper had to know. He knows everything. And I stopped them from practicing on each other,” she answered. Travis had chosen to sit far away from Penelope at this point considering she glared in his direction as well. “And I told them to be careful.”

Bob shrugged. “She did a good imitation of you, Susan,” he said. Penelope sat up straight.

“I did not!” She argued.

“She told us that magic had rules and consequences,” he continued, ignoring how angry she was looking. “And she tried to explain to us why it was dangerous.”

“If you turned him invisible,” Penelope said through clenched teeth. “And you made him an enormous rock monster. Why didn't you start planning?”

“Planning?” Maria asked.

“Okay, you were trying to make the armor lighter. And what happened to the armor, kept happening to him. Why didn't you tie a rope around him and then try it? Or do it indoors? Or have someone waiting at the top of 123?” She asked. There was silence and she sighed. “If you're going to work with magic, you have to come up with contingency plans.”

“Or they could just not work with magic,” Mr. Hooper said. “Which is the new rule.”

There was a massive amount of protests that Bob decided to duck out of this time. They weren't going to win against Mr. Hooper and he still had one more job to do. He looked over at Susan and Gordon. “Will you guys get them the armor?” He asked. Both of them nodded before joining the fray. Penelope looked at him.

“Them?” She asked.

“Come on, Penelope,” he said. “You knew we weren't just going to let you not have any.”

“I can take care of myself,” she nearly growled. He ignored her attempts to drive him off. He held up a hand to get her to wait for a second and raced over to Mr. Macintosh.

“I need two apples,” he said quickly.

“I had to calm down Penelope and Mr. Hooper,” Mr. Macintosh informed him. “I'm not sure if this is a treats day.”

Bob looked back and then at Mr. Macintosh. “I need to convince Penelope that she needs to be safe too. And I can usually keep her in one place if I have your fruit.”

Mr. Macintosh looked at him for a minute. “Are you sure you only need two?” He teased, handing them over and taking the money that Bob gave him. “Good luck.”

“Thanks!” Bob said, racing back over and touching Penelope's arm. “Come on a walk with me?”

“I'm mad at you. For a lot of reasons,” Penelope said.

“I know. But come anyway?” He asked. She paused and he was worried that she'd refuse, but she finally gave a quick nod and followed him off the Street. He was absolutely going to hear about this later from Mr. Hooper considering he was pretty sure that the lecture wasn't exactly over, but hopefully this would work. They finally stopped and Bob sat on a bench. Penelope tentatively followed though she looked ready to bolt. She quickly sat down when Bob tossed an apple at her, leaning back to eat his own. 

“It's from Mr. Macintosh,” he told her. She easily bit into hers as well and he grinned, enjoying the companionable silence between them as he tried to figure out how to put this for her. “Do you remember when you had to go get Cookie Monster out of jail?”

Penelope groaned. “I couldn't believe that cop!” She answered. Bob charged ahead quickly.

“Do you remember when we were talking on the phone and you had to try to calm me down?” He asked. She paused at that.

“How long did it take you to figure out what I was doing?” She asked.

“About as long as it took you to get back,” he answered. “And when you got to the police station, you weren't having to deal with every monster and Protector on the street.”

“No I didn't,” she answered with a small smile. “I did appreciate that. But what does that have to do with the armor?”

“You had to be the one to do it,” he said. “They wouldn't have let him out if we did. And there are going to be other times when you have to do things and it won't be on Sesame Street.”

“Bob...” she started, though she didn't sound as annoyed as she usually did.

“You have a job to do,” he said looked at her, apple mostly forgotten. She hadn't touched hers either since the conversation began. “And I know that you hate us trying to protect you, but what happens if something happens out here? Sesame Street's magic won't be able to reach you. We won't even know. And you'll be alone without anything to protect you.”

Penelope looked uncomfortable. “It's always been a threat even before I started this job. It is for everyone, Bob.”

“Not everyone is my little sister,” he said. “What would you tell Maria or Linda or Olivia if they weren't protected and weren't willing to use magical armor?”

“'Put on the armor before I make you',” Penelope answered and shot him an amused look. “I'm not sure you can make me.”

“I can ask you,” Bob answered. “Please?”

He watched as the amusement and fight seemed to just fall off of her and she sighed. “You're being overprotective,” she said quietly. He moved to protest. “But you don't try to parent me very often. So, I'll do it.”

Bob reached over and pulled her into a hug which she easily returned. “Thank you,” he said. She looked out and then back at him, looking awkward.

“No one wants to be alone if something happens,” she answered. “Now I won't be. I'm not great with telling all of you how you're family to me, unless I'm complaining about it, but I do think of all of you that way. And if Gordon and Susan are older siblings, then that puts us in the middle together and I think you understand that more than anyone else.”

“I do,” Bob agreed. Penelope gave him another quick hug, which he did appreciate considering she was far less tactile than him.

“Thank you for being my big brother,” she said with more honesty and her emotional shield down for once. He squeezed before letting her go. There was a look of understanding between the two for a moment before her mask snapped back into place and she picked up her apple calmly. “This conversation never happened, Bob. I'll wear it, we'll all know that I wear it, but that's as far as it goes.”

He just laughed. He could live with those terms especially if it kept her safe. He stood up with her, biting into his own apple and she smiled back, settling down as they headed back toward Sesame Street. If Susan and Gordon complained about him not telling them how he convinced her, he's just remind them that the important thing was she was wearing it and then try to avoid Susan for the next three months when she wanted him to try to convince Penelope to do something. The others would press, but he'd deal with that too. Gordon and Susan would get it what they needed, they'd all have to deal with Mr. Hooper glaring at them for a while if they even mentioned magic, Travis would put his armor on the first chance he got, Penelope would reluctantly get into hers, and everything would be back to normal. Only better. Job well done.


End file.
